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How would you feel when you realize that something was specially designed for you? At least we talk about Homelessness and Defensive Architecture against homeless

When it comes to the topic of homelessness, we can talk about many aspects of our reality as human beings and how we are connected to each other as part of the same society in the political, economic, social, cultural, etc.

Defensive Architecture or Hostile Architecture, is only one of the difficulties a person who is forced by the circumstances to sleep on the streets has to suffer and overcome every day. It is something that was considered, designed, approved and implemented specifically as a mechanism against homeless people.

Interactive Design Installation, PrototypeMaterializing my master thesis topic as part of the Prototyping and Modelling Studio at KISD (Köln International School of Design)Year / 2017

Harm reduction centers

Sparking Systems change through Aesthetic Disruption

This was a group project worked as part of a KISD course where our system of interest was -Harm Reduction Centers- and how are these places perceived by Cologne citizens.

We wanted to understand the four layers associated with this topic (events, trends, structure and mental model), from where we could start planning our aesthetical intervention.

After our findings, we decided to make an approach taking three of the most interesting mental models in order to tackle them. They were associated with drug addictions and how public systems such as harm reduction centers and needle exchange programs might be perceived and judge through that lenses by its social context.

The aim of this project was to provoke a deep reflection on the underlying assumptions of the systems we participate in by engaging people’s senses through a tangible and experiential design intervention.

Ladfest 2015

A design festival made by people for peopleHard Teamwork | Empathy | Experimentation | Enjoy the process and achievements

Working at IS Creative Studio, i participated in the creation of brand identities for cultural projects and events, stationary, merchandising, photographing , fonts creation and websites.However, my main challenge was transforming the Latin American Design Festival (LADFEST 2015) from an idea to a reality (a full day of conferences and another one of workshops).

The Ladfest was born at the initiative of IS Creative Studio, with the aim of promoting Latin American design worldwide, highlighting the social potential of design using lectures, workshops, exhibitions and complementary activities.

As part of the organizing team I kept constant communication with national and international speakers, universities and design schools, potential sponsors, etc. As a designer i also worked on the communication material, newsletters, the selection and publication of the information on the blog, web, facebook, twitter. It was an amazing teamwork experience bringing knowledge and an unforgettable experience to 700 attendants including professionals and students.

SHARE ---Stuttgart & Lima---

The challenge of raising awareness and implementing a recycling culture in Latin America

Reciclaje.pe is an interdisciplinary team of German, Peruvian and American professionals. They are currently working on building an inclusive recycling center open to the public in the city of Lima (Peru) and a key factor is the exchange of knowledge between Germany and Peru.

I enjoyed working on the development of the storytelling and graphic material for the parallel exhibition in Lima and Stuttgart. My main challenge was to bring all these valuable insights gathered by the group during previous workshops in Lima and Stuttgart, and bring them to the general public in order to recreate the experience and research phase.

At University of Lima

During my working time in the Communication Office of the University of Lima, I had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects in my role as a Graphic and Web Designer.

# 1 Mobile version of the University of Lima website (Graphics, UX, and UI)

As the project was ambitious, I started from the basics: analyzing the content and making a flow chart of the most visited and necessary parts, incorporating an English version, modifying the visual language as the typography, homogenizing the colors, and photography style.

Finally, I worked on the implementation phase hand by hand with the programmer to be sure that all the visual and previous work would be respected and was there to talk about every unexpected detail to change or redesign.

I was in charge of the ideation, development, and implementation of the communication pieces of this event. To do so, I had frequent meetings with the client to be clear about the objectives of the event, the type of public and the role that the website was going to play.

The pieces to work included the design of the visual language, printed and promotional material pre and for the event (flyers, posters, banners, name tags, screens, etc.), as well as the digital and the design of the website.

At IS Creative Studio

During my working time at IS Creative Studio, I participated in many creative and some self-initiated projects of the studio as:

# 1 DemocratypeA project about interaction, participation, and democracyIt’s an experimental typography workshop ideated by IS Creative Studio, in collaboration with Himi Saito. All participants take turns on a limited time, with limited tools to create a complete alphabet and decide when a letter it is finished.Participants: Brandlab & IS Creative Studio.Materials: Brush and ink on paper.Time: 15″ each | Photos: Wendy Gonzales.

#2 Innóvate PerúThe National Innovation Program for Competitiveness and Productivity (Innóvate Perú), is one of the main arms executors of the National Plan of the Ministry of Productive Diversification of Production.Innóvate Perú seeks to increase business productivity by strengthening stakeholder ecosystem of innovation (enterprises, entrepreneurs, and support organizations) and to facilitate the interaction between them.

#3 HelvechichaA Peruvian handmade lettering made typographyIt's an interpretation of popular graphic lettering made by hundreds of artists from all over Peru and South America. An art that challenges a difficult time where large format printers and vinyl adhesives are gradually eliminating the beautiful art of handmade signs and removing the graphic identity of the streets and markets.

# 4 IS Creative KitchenPop-Ups are unique and unrepeatable experiencesIt's a project of IS Creative Studio with the aim of creating unique and unrepeatable gastronomic experiences in the form of Pop Ups. "We think about an ideal restaurant that is in our imagination. A place where besides eating something delicious, plays with imagination, surprise you, amuse you, make you travel and exercise all your senses". Pop Up 6: The fierce Red Riding Hood | Pop Up 7: Havana Libre

Year / 2015

RENRisk

Monte Carlo Analysis for Energy Generation Projects

Do not give the client what he asks for, give him something betterThis project was an interesting challenge, especially because i was not familiarized at all with the hydroelectric field and because the client came already with a fixed idea of what he wanted.RENRisk is a really useful tool to measure the environmental, operational, human resources and financial risks when it comes to investing on an hydroelectric project.

The aim of the project was showing all the benefits of this tool in a graphic, easy and understandable way. So we took a case study which exposed the contrast between how much the project would had cost without using this tool (BEFORE) and how much the client saved using RENRisk (AFTER) in financial terms, creating value, saving time, taking advantage of the natural conditions, and so on.

Thus, in the final product, while you are unfolding the brochure, you can read a clear statement: WE MAKE BIG IMPACT, WE MAKE RISKS VISIBLE.This can works as a complete statement, but also each word independently matching with each section: WE MAKE (who we are), BIG IMPACT (clients), RISKS (before) IMPACT (after).

Client / Swiss HydroYear / 2016

Parca Voz

Book: Epitaphs of the "Presbítero Matías Maestro" Cemetery of Lima

Making visible an invisible spot in the city

This is one of the most special projects I’ve worked on. The topic of death had already a special meaning for me, however, the fact of working to place value on the most beautiful, ancient but also forgotten cemetery of Lima, was certainly challenging. This book showcases the hidden beauty and history behind the literary analysis of selected epithafs of XIX century at the cemetery.

Despite being a book focused on an academic and literary approach, I complemented all these using details in the layout, illustrations, color, photographs, etc, to make of this an enjoyable reading experience.

One extra detail I proposed and worked on was the inclusion of a map showing the route of epitaphs mentioned in the book as a way of a journey and invitation to visit the cemetery with a new point of view.

Year / 2015Editorial design, Illustration, Cover design, Photo editing, book photography, Clients / José Espinosa and Rosa OstosWith the support of the Municipality of LimaPages: 220

Artesur Handcraft

Services and brands are about people

The ancient weaving tradition with reeds and totora goes back to the days of The Chincha Culture, and that is exactly the name of the town (Chincha - Peru) where this community of artisans born under the name of "Arte Sur".

They manufacture high-quality products such as purses, placemats, baskets, ornamental flowers and fruits, etc. which demands a lot of time and dedication from artisans, but unfortunately people is not used to pay too much for them.

As part of the project, we visited the town, we talked with the artisans and their families about how the business started, we saw and experimented the process of manufacturing handlooms and mainly, we saw them working really hard.

They needed a brand which depicts all the process and effort they put on each one of their work pieces. With that in mind, i started creating a logo, choosing a typography and corporate colors, creating a product catalog, merchandising according to their needs and the heat of the town and finally a brand manual.

Clients / Artesur, Chincha - PerúUniversity project

Wayfinding System

Proposing a wayfinding system means understanding the user experience

The Marina Yacht Club and The Abtao Submarine Museum are located one next to the other in the port of Callao (Lima). Although they are really close, they didn't take advantage of their proximity to maybe organize something together and create a circuit to the public. That was our motivation to working on a single signage system that works for both places.

We proposed a new logotype for The Abtao Submarine Museum because the main visitors were kids and the old logotype didn't match with the public. Also we made a single icon family that could be used for the museum as well as for the Club.

Art Installation & Painting

Can objects depict a story?

My projects in Art Installation and in painting were always related with concepts like decadence, oblivion, presence, absence and the stories each person could imagine behind the mere materiality of the objects. I wanted to explore the territory beyond the canvas and create more a experience for myself and for the observer.

The experience for myself - the processI worked using “found objects” picked up from the streets or bought in second-hand shops. The methodology I used to select the objects was always when the answer to the following question was a yes: Can I imagine a story behind them at first sight? Can I relate them to the people who used them before?Objects were no longer simple objects, they had a soul.

The experience for the others - showcaseWhen you walk around the installation and see all the pieces together, you can have mixed feelings about them. There is something like a nostalgic presence that could be quickly transformed into a tragic feeling.

Book Illustrations

ShimotyoThis graphic novel illustrates the Amazon legend "Shimotyo" where the main warrior ends up being transformed into a worm.

Invisible CitiesDigital illustrations made based on the "Invisible Cities" book by Italo Calvino. Cities: Baucis, Despina, Zirma, Maurilia.

Beautiful and monstrousIllustrations, poems, bookbinding and packaging made in tribute to the film "Freaks " (1932) directed by Tod Browning.The poems, written by Jose Antonio Espinosa, were made in an introspective way, where the characters are speaking directly to us. The bookbinding and design was made thinking in the concept of a circus tent, also aligned to the packaging worked in wood with the pyrography technique.

Boo!Illustration, engraving and bookbinding of a character who wants to be a monster.

The Crazy Bag

Putting myself in the shoes of a homeless person

This project started with my interest and the uncertainty of what a homeless person experience in their daily lives. Which difficulties do they have to overcome and in which way do they do it?

One specific person caught my attention and was a homeless man called as “The crazy bag”. His way of dressing using plastic bags earned him his nickname. His way of transforming his unique resource in a way to survive a day in, day out, made me reflect on how creative can we be, as human beings, when we lack the most basic.

By performing this urban intervention I wanted to put myself in his shoes for a moment. I could feel from first-hand the avoidant looks on the streets, I saw how people crossed the street when I was getting closer, I experienced how my word lost value and credibility, and when someone finally came to me, it was just to ask me to get out of the place because “I gave a negative impression”.

The aim of this project was to exalt people to look around them and to give visibility to the “empty spaces” that homeless people often represent in our society. There is too much to learn from people who live in need, but still too much to do to make of this a more equitable society.

In honor of the real "crazy bag" from the Breña district.Urban InterventionYear / 2009Video

Children's art workshop

We should never be afraid of making "mistakes", simply because they are not mistakes.

"I am a super hero" was the topic of this summer workshop. Children had to imagine their super heroes, describe them, draw them and finally create them using different techniques and materials as clay, painting, and recycled material.

I think the most gratifying moment was when we gave them a piece of cloth and they became instantly their own heroes, full of confident and running as fast as lightning.

It was an amazing experience teaching and learning a lot from children between 3 and 6 years old. Among all their wisdom, i could learn that we should never be afraid of making "mistakes" because they are not mistakes.

At / Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)Year / 2011

About Lima

OvercrowdingIllustrations and animation about the overcrowding that exists in the poorest districts of Lima and in the country in general, which often leads to serious consequences such as crime, neglect and delinquency.Project by Vanessa Espinosa Ureta, Victor Ynami and Marco Morales.Illustration, research and video

E.T. Santa Rosa - LINE 9Better known as Line 9, is the transportation line which crosses the largest section of our city (Lima), through opposite districts (demographically and economically) like Puente Piedra, Zapallal, San Miguel, Magdalena, San Isidro,etc, connecting different stories, social classes, problems and thoughts of the passengers.The aim of this project was showing everything that happen silently inside the passengers during these trips.Project by: Vanessa Espinosa Ureta, Victor Ynami, Miguel Noa, Marco Morales, Kristhel Ramos.llustration, research and video